Feature Film — In Production — 2026

NIGHT
FOLLOWS DAY

The lives of two families collide in a whirlwind of grit and loss in the sun-drenched hill country of rural Texas.

Genre Western, Neo Western / Drama / Rural Thriller
Runtime 120 min
Format 4K · Color · 24fps
Locations Cedar Creek · Wimberley · Smithville · Fort Worth, TX
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Logline & Synopsis

A Fractured
Peace

A Neo-Western Family Saga

Emotional, cinematic, and steeped in the beauty of the rugged Texas countryside — Night Follows Day tells the story of two Texas families who run small blue-collar businesses.

Jeff and River Clayton work on their father's pecan farm and share a strong brotherly bond. Their friends Riley and Lukas Williams work at their father's landfill nearby. After a night of drinking on the Clayton's property, River is accidentally shot by Lukas. The death of River fractures the once close families, eventually spilling over and splintering the tight-knit community as a whole.

Jeff, reeling from the loss of his brother and the financial struggles of his aging father's business, must take a dangerous chance to save the farm — or risk losing it all.

The tractor goes by as the sun sets behind the hills. The land is black in shadow as the sky beams with orange and red light.
"Lot of these families that live out here been here for awhile now. Proud to be from here... you know?"
Proof of Concept

Watch the
Trailer

The World

A Tale of
Two Families

Clayton Family

  • Tom ClaytonOwns the family pecan farm · wife deceased
    • River ClaytonYounger brother. Works the family pecan farm.
    • Jeff ClaytonOlder brother. Works the pecan farm alongside River.

Williams Family

  • Chet WilliamsOwns the landfill & waste business · wife deceased
    • Riley WilliamsYounger brother. Works the family landfill.
    • Lukas WilliamsOlder brother. Works the family landfill.
Full cast & crew bios — updated section in progress.
Locations

Central Texas,
Hill Country

Filmed on location in Central Texas in the rural hill country and Edwards Plateau region. The majority of the film will be shot on the outskirts of Bastrop, Wimberley, Smithville and Dripping Springs, Texas. Utilizing the beauty of our natural locations we will shoot at live businesses for the pecan farm (Berdoll Farms) and landfill (Del Valle). By filming on "real" locations we will create a raw and authentic look that can not be recreated on a traditional Hollywood set, and is paramount to our story.
Dan Berdoll, owner of Berdoll Pecan Farm, Cedar Creek, TexasDAN BERDOLL
OWNER OF BERDOLL PECAN FARM
CEDAR CREEK, TEXAS
Aerial view of Texas hill country and river
Working landfill location
Map of the physical regions of Texas
Rural Texas dirt road
Visual References

Look &
Feel

The visual touchstones shaping our cinematography, color, and framing — six films whose visual language we're speaking to.

01

No Country
for Old Men ↗

Joel & Ethan Coen, 2007

Wide, unhurried Texas landscapes and a creeping sense of fatalism — dread that lives in empty space.
02

Ain't Them
Bodies Saints ↗

David Lowery, 2013

Golden-hour backlight and doomed young lovers — romance shot like a memory already fading.
03

The Tree
of Life ↗

Terrence Malick, 2011

Poetic naturalism, sun flare, and a camera that drifts — memory and place as living characters.
04

Bring Me the Head
of Alfredo Garcia ↗

Sam Peckinpah, 1974

Desperate men undone by one bad decision, shot with sweat, dust, and unglamorous violence.
05

Out of the
Furnace ↗

Scott Cooper, 2013

Blue-collar brothers, quiet men carrying too much — grief and duty shot at eye level.
06

There Will
Be Blood ↗

Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007

Austere widescreen compositions and American ambition curdling into something darker.
Director's Statement

Visual Narrative

Night Follows Day is a deeply personal exploration of place, memory, and identity, told through the lens of two working-class Texas families facing emotional and economic upheaval. Artistically, this film is rooted in realism — not just in its performances and narrative structure, but in the very soil of its setting. The Texas Hill Country is not a backdrop but a living, breathing character in this story.

My directorial approach centers on capturing this natural environment with honesty and reverence, employing wide-angle, mostly stationary compositions that allow the landscape to speak and the silence between characters to resonate.

"Night Follows Day is a love letter to a vanishing way of life. It's a call to witness, to feel, and to remember. That's why it must be made now."

Dialogue will be understated and naturalistic, reflecting how people really speak — where meaning often lies in what's left unsaid. Voice-over, used sparingly and drawn from multiple perspectives, will deepen the emotional texture and immerse viewers further into the characters' internal lives.

Visually and tonally, the film embraces contrast: the mechanized decay of a landfill set against the organic cycles of a pecan farm; the chaos of a cantina raid against the quiet stillness of rural life. These juxtapositions form the heart of the film's visual language — a sense of unease and inevitability that mirrors the characters' internal and external struggles.

Style & Positioning

Where This
Film Lives

Told through the beauty and ruggedness of the Texas countryside, evoking the tonal register of Terrence Malick and the moral weight of Cormac McCarthy — Days of Heaven meets No Country for Old Men.

TitleBudgetBox OfficeWhy it's comparable
Days of Heaven$3,000,000$3,500,000Low-budget exploration of harsh working conditions with beautiful landscape photography; sparing use of voice-over.
Winter's Bone$2,000,000$16,000,000Low-budget story of poverty and family ties in a rural setting.
Mud$10,000,000$32,000,000Stylistically similar rural setting; location and atmosphere central to the story.
The Wild Bunch$6,000,000$11,000,000The changing of times, outliving one's era, and the death of an old way of life.
No Country for Old Men$25,000,000$171,000,000Rustic Texas setting; similar themes of changing times, fate, and inevitability.
Reception

Early
Response

7.9/10
Greenlight Coverage — 88th Percentile · Strong Consider
THE BLACK LIST

"Night Follows Day's atmospheric writing brings its unique setting, the Texas Hill Country, to the forefront. The detailed, vivid descriptions provide insights into a blue-collar community seldom seen and illustrate an abundantly clear vision from a directorial standpoint. It's evident that meticulous thought and consideration were given to the film's visual language."

Script Feedback
AFS AUSTIN FILM SOCIETY

"The video sample is excellently shot and edited. It's very strong in establishing the style and mood of the film. The locations help a lot as well. Proof of concept trailer / teaser is the strongest component of this application. It demonstrates that what they want to pull off they should be able to. This is a very talented young filmmaker."

Feature Film Grant Feedback
RAUL V. CARRERA

"He (Granger Coats) is a self-taught camera operator, photographer, and filmmaker who has developed into a quality and creative artist. Most recently he has shared with me a script that he has written and plans to produce and direct, which I believe will prove him to be a new young American voice worth listening to."

Filmmaker
For Investors

Financials &
Budget

This section is reserved for prospective investors and partners.

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Total Project Budget$1,282,916.70 (preliminary)
Shooting Schedule35 Days · Texas
Contactgrangerpac@gmail.com
View Finance Deck (PDF)

Budget figures are preliminary and being finalized — updated numbers coming soon.

Pitch Materials

Full Pitch
Deck

Logline, world, characters, locations, director's vision, and comparables — the complete lookbook in one document.

View Pitch Deck (PDF)
Get in Touch

Contact

Granger Coats — Director / Producer Austin, Texas 512.578.9585 grangerpac@gmail.com
John Crowley — Producer (512) 426-2086 johnpcrowley34@gmail.com
Peggy Chen — Producer (325) 480-3265 paycheee@gmail.com
Cody Mitchell — Producer 512.765.0152 cody@mitchellmitchellfilms.com